By Blessing Chinagorom
The United Kingdom Government has said over 130,000 people will benefit from its roll out of life-saving health check programme to workplaces across the country for the first time.
According to the publication from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on Friday, stating that this checks will better protected the people from diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.
While stated further that This health checks, will be completed quickly and easily for employees at work, adding that it will record a range of information about each patient, which is then used to determine their cardiovascular risk.
Adding that this announcement was one of part of the Health and Social Care Secretary’s commitment to supporting the government’s mission to boost economic growth by improving the health of the nation.
The Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne in his reaction said many deadly diseases can be avoided if seek help in enough time. “That’s why we’re working to improve access to treatment while also taking steps to address the preventable causes of cardiovascular disease.
“This innovative new programme is an important step towards community-focused healthcare and supporting economic and productivity through improving health, shifting from treatment to prevention, easing the strain on the NHS and helping people to live well for longer”, he said.
Over 16 million people are eligible for an NHS Health Check, but current data shows that only around 40% of those invited went on to complete one. This is especially true for men, who are less likely to get early help but who are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease at an earlier age than women.
This new programme aims to reach more people through their place of work and make it more convenient for people to understand and improve their cardiovascular health.
In addition, the government has today also announced the development of a new digital version of the NHS Health Check which will be ready for testing early in 2025.
The service will be available through the NHS App, meaning users can undertake their health check at home and have the results automatically written back into their GP electronic health record, within a few clicks.
Local authorities in Norfolk (East of England), Medway (South East) and Lambeth (London) have been selected to pilot the new digital health checks in early 2025.
The digital programme will deliver around one million checks in its first 4 years. Plans are being put in place to make digital NHS Health Checks available nationally, alongside the face-to-face programme to give patients more choice.